Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar (IAST: Māṇi Mādhava Cākyār) (15 February 1899 – 14 January 1990) was a celebrated master performance artist[1] and Sanskrit scholar [2] from Kerala, India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam (ancient Sanskrit drama theatre tradition) artist and authority of modern times.

[8] He was the first one to take Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu outside the precincts of the temples of Kerala to all over India and to impart training in Kudiyattam to non-Chakyar disciples including foreigners.

Mani Madhava Chakyar was born on 15 February 1899, in his ancestral home at Thiruvangayoor near Karayad,near Perambra of Kozhikode district of Kerala.

[citation needed] He trained in Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam in traditional way, under the direct guidance of his uncles who were great scholars and masters of these art forms.

[4] He belonged to the "Mani" tradition of Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu which gives importance to both Rasa-abhinaya and Vachika-abhinaya.

[citation needed] His first performance (Arangettam) of Koodiyattam was at the age of 14 at Trikkaikkunnu Temple of North Kottayam of Malabar.

It consist of all devotional ritualistic Koothus and Kudiyattams including Anguliyanka, Mattavilasa Prahasana, Mantranka, Ezhamanka ( seventh act of Ascharyachoodamani) about eight decades continuously in temples of Kerala.

He along with his troop did Koodiyattam performance in places like Madras (1962, 1973 & 1977), Madhura (1962), New Delhi (1964, 1966, 1974, 1979 & 1983), Varanasi (1964 & 1979), Bombay (1973 & 1977), Ujjain (1982), Bhopal (1987) etc.

[citation needed] The President of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, invited him to perform Kutiyattam at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1964 and was impressed by his exceptional acting skill.

[citation needed] He choreographed and directed acts of the plays like Kalidasa's Abhijñānaśākuntala, Vikramorvaśīya and Mālavikāgnimitra ; Bhasa's Swapnavāsavadatta[24] and Pancharātra; Harsha's Nagananda for the first time in the history of Koodiyattam.

He agreed and studied a part of the prabandha within one night and performed the same on the next day at Tripunithura – the then capital of Cochin state (1962).

[citation needed] He performed Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam for All India Radio and Doordarshan for the first time, which helped to attract thousands of listeners to these traditional art forms.

[citation needed] He is considered the greatest guru of Kutiyattam of the modern times, producing many accomplished disciples.

He stayed at Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar's home and studied Koodiyattam in its traditional Gurukula way.

Lot of research scholars came to study the Sanskrit drama from the ultimate exponent of Kutiyattam and Abhinaya Mani Madhava Cakyar.

[27] Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay of All-India Handicrafts Board came to Guru Maani Madhava Cakyar's home to do research about the costumes used in Kutiyattam (Ahāryābhinaya) (1967).

Indian theatre scholar Goverdhan Panjal (National School of Drama) studied about Koothambalams and Kutiyattam under the Guru (1975).

[49] He received the most prestigious sacred Vīrasringhala or Veerashringhala (It's a kind of Golden Bracelet, given to the greatest artist/scholar of that era) from Taliparamba Rajarajeshwara Temple (1923).

[50] Another major Vīrasringhalas that he received are; from Valiya Thampuran of Kottakkal Kovilakam (1952), from Urpassikkavu of Thalassery, from Jagadguru Shri Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham (1961), from Samoothiri Raja of Kozhikode, given at the eve of Koodiyattam performance at Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple (1964) and from Tripunithura Kovilakam (1989).

He has received Gold Medals from Valiya Raja of Katathanadu, Pallikkunnu Bhagavathy Temple of Kannoor, Avittathur (1962), Delhi Experimental theatre (1964) etc.

Radhakrishnan, Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh ( Maharaja of Kasi ), Satyanarayana Sinha, Bishnu Ram Medhi (Chief Minister of Assam), Sir C.P.

[63][64] RKG (Editor, The Illustrated Weekly, Columnist for Times of India) observes,[65] ..I felt angry when I learnt that a great artist like Mani Madhava Chakyar was awarded a mere Padma Shri.

A man of his artistic genius and erudition deserved to be decorated with the highest state honour (Bharat Ratna)He has written an authoritative, award-winning book (in Malayalam) on Koodiyattam called Nātyakalpadrumam (1975).

[68][69][70] One of his other book is Matha Vilasam (Mattavilasam 1968), the choreography and play part ( actor's manual – Attaprakara) used in Mattavilasaprahasana Kudiyattam.

His biography (in Malayalam), Mani Madhaveeyam (1999) was published by Department of Cultural Affairs Publications of the Government of Kerala.

Guru has written articles in various journals[74][75] and presented number of papers in conferences on various aspects of Koodiyattam, Abhinaya, Raagas, Natyasastra, Chakyar Koothu, Rasābhinaya in Kathakali etc.

Documentation of Guru's Kutiyattam performance by Doordarshan Centre Bombai with English commentary of art critic and scholar V. K Narayana Menon is widely acclaimed.

[citation needed] Chakyar died at the age of 90 on 14 January 1990 in a private hospital at Ottappalam due to natural causes.

Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi's annual Koodiyattam Award is known as Maani Madhava Puraskaram[91] as a tribute to him.